Spending money in New York

[JasonTindallsTan]

Myself, DH and adult DD are going to NYC in September for 4 nights. We’d planned to buy attraction passes in advance (any recommendations?) so spending money should really just be needed for food, travel and tips 🤯

All I keep reading is how expensive NYC so what is realistic in terms of amount of money we’d need to expect to spend (we’re fully funding adult DD).

Ok this is all really helpful thank you. I’d kind of roughly had in my head about £1500 (excluding passes if we get them) for food drink and travel. I think it sounds like upping that to about £2k should be pretty reasonable and anything saved out of that is a bonus.

I love the idea of getting the train to the hotel from the airport but I do wonder if that will take away that moment of WOW THATS NEW YORK OFF THE TELLY! (DH and I have both been but pre 2001 and DD has never been).

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge puts wow in and if the train is overground, then it’s wow too.

I think adding in loads of attractions costs more. There’s plenty that’s not expensive - you don’t need to pay for a walking tour. There’s free options in Lonely Planet. Well researched and easy to follow. Food is the big problem re money. There are food stores around Hudson yards so stock up if you need to. Are you in a hotel or do you have a kitchen? Getting your own breakfast saves a lot.

We’re in a hotel (Room Only) but happy to have a bed picnic for breakfast (or takeaway for evening meal after a long day).

Sell a kidney too to cover the tax and tips.

There a really good pizza slice place near Hudson yards (ate my lunch there every day when I was there unexpectedly on business in December as my lunch wasn’t covered) Vitos slices and ices 464 9th Avenue - cheap and yummy (massive too!)

The train from the airport is the best option.

I live in NYC not that far from Hudson Yards. A couple of suggestions:

• DO NOT EAT IN TIMES SQUARE. It's a ripoff and the food is terrible.

• Stock up on snacks in the Whole Foods by HY. The complex there also has a Daily Provisions, which is great for a quick breakfast. Whole Foods also has a hot food/salad bar which is very good.

• Lots of fast casual stuff around HY to cater to the office workers. Look at Sweetgreen for salad bowls and Russ and Daughters for Bagels.

• There's plenty of good value food to be had in Chelsea Market. Los Tacos is an always favorite, but ALF bakery is excellent for sandwiches etc. also love the Korean noodle bar.

• Bar Primi near Penn Station is fab. Dine in, but very reasonably priced for the area. Make a reservation though.

Have a great time!

If we wanted to take DD somewhere one evening for a cocktail with a view is there somewhere people would suggest?

Thank you so much for the other stuff as well. Lots to think about.

I'm just back. We went to Byrant Park for a drink as we wanted outside and we had kids. One of the fancy hotels eg The Plaza or the Caryle for a drink?

We got a three attraction city pass and used it for SOL, ESB and MNH. It was very straightforward to use. I loved the high line and MoMA. We did a Central Park tour that was fun.

There is a noticeable smell of weed everywhere!!

The bar/restaurant at the Edge - Peak. Can get some drinks and light bites and take in the view.

The restaurant at Restoration Hardware also has a good view, although it's not the classic skyline.

It’s eye watering expensive.

We paid $6 for a large fries from McDonald’s (weren’t even in Manhattan then), not much change out of $10 for a Starbucks, the cheapest shower gel we found in Target (in a residential area) was $8 (we ended up buying a bar of soap to use instead!)

2-3k

I’d keep your mouth closed. It’s not the Gatwick express. A lot of people who use public transport in NYC are ones that cannot afford to use taxis. It’s not like the London Underground. Begging, people with severe mental health issues, people on drugs and generally feeling uncomfortable is the experience I have on NYC transport.

It depends what your expectation is of NYC. To me it’s dirty and people are rude unless they’re expecting tips.

I remember having to change from JFK and I wanted to ask one of the workers if I was on the right platform. I asked her if she worked here and she yelled at me ‘do you think I’d be standing here wearing this if I didn’t work here’. Ahhh New York, there’s nowhere else like it.

The first time I went we got hop on hop off bus tickets, you can get them with a boat trip too. It was great to not have to worry about the transport for a couple of days and be able to really move between all the major sights and attractions. The second time we had a more leisurely trip and just used the subway. I loved just having a wander around to be honest.

We walked a lot (got to see so many things that way) and generally found people were helpful if you asked a question. Security at Battery Park for the ferries was chaotic and staff rude but maybe it was just a bad day.

@JasonTindallsTan Have a look at this web site. There are 6 recommended in Hudson Yards area.

NY is grubby and not everyone is friendly. However if you are self reliant and keep up on the streets, (everyone walks SO fast) you will be fine.

Just back- and it was very expensive. Cost of a meal is never the cost of a meal as you need to add tip and tax onto something that is already pricey. We got used to the custom tip button on the card machines so don't feel that you always need to tip the 20/22/25% that is suggested.

If you don't already have one, see if you can get something like a Revolut Card - you pre-load it and it's multicurrency so you don't get stung for currency fees on top of everything else. It helped us manage our spending as well as providing flexibility for spending in different currencies (we use it for £ and Euro too).

We didn't have a pass but did pre book in advance and tried to pace ourselves across the days we were there.

Get very comfy shoes / trainers to walk in.

@JasonTindallsTan - someone posted up thread about buying food from Wholefoods. It’s commonly known as “Whole Pay Check” as it’s extremely expensive.

A far better option is to go to one of the Trader Joe’s stores which has loads of reasonably priced options including various salads and fresh fruit, yoghurts, chips and dips etc- some of their stores also sell alcohol.

You can look at the products they sell on their website, the “Fearless Flyer” online magazine is an interesting read, and their store locations - type New York NY - into the store locator box can be found here:

www.traderjoes.com

Btw: avoid D’Agostinos food stores as they are very pricey!

Looking at broadway shows now. It’s a toss up between Harry Potter and Cursed Child and Back to the Future.

Anyone have any good tips for pre Theatre dining?

We bought a 3 day hop on hop off bus tour ticket. There are several routes so you can get to pretty much any tourist destination using it.

For cheaper meals, just walk a few blocks and you'll usually come across a locals hang out. We did 3 days of expensive breakfasts with just an ice cream or cake at lunchtime then evening meal but on our last day we found a great local hang out where breakfast was under $5 with unlimited coffee - the best coffee I've ever had.

Lillie's Victorian Establishment, Bar Primi by Penn Station or PioPio in Hell's Kitchen.

The passes covered everything we did bar the Met which was definitely worth the extra money. Evenings we probably spent £25 each for a main course, lunch (Sweet Greens!) was around £16 each. We walked most places so subway was only paid for on a couple of days (went for 9 days).

The DCs had spending money but saved much of it for back home because most of the shops they were in are at home too/online and UK prices were cheaper.

Flew into Newark. Was meeting a relative for dinner and after a while faffing trying to get a bus caved and got a taxi as time was getting tight. Just did that on the way back too for simplicity- was above $100 dollars each way. The bus wasn’t particularly cheap anyway though obviously less than that.

@JasonTindallsTan A Broadway show will eat into your budget. We felt it was more expensive than London. Broadway musicals are great but the cost is phenomenal - popular shows aren’t easy to get discounted.

In October we (2adults/2teens) spent $200 for pizza/dessert off Broadway. That was probably our single most expensive meal, but we also spent approaching that at a very nice burger restaurant, lunch in a Spanish place near Hudsons Yard. We were self-catering and groceries were also fairly expensive. Had a great time though. DD scored of the big successes when she found mini-golf at Pier 26 by searching things to do in NY for less than $10 on TikTok.

I’ll book those tickets before we go. The budget isn’t fixed as such, it’s more wondering how much to expect to spend. Obviously I’m not in a ‘money is no object’ space but nor is it, ‘I’ve got £50 per head per day and absolutely nothing can be spent outside of that’.